Kia ora from the other side of the world! My name is Anya and I am a third year student studying Anthropology and Global Environment and Sustainable Development (BA/BGlobal) at University of Auckland. I’m spending my semester abroad at the lovely University of Edinburgh.
My overseas journey began a little bit before I arrived in Edinburgh. I spent a month zipping around Europe, managing to spend time in Rome, Santorini, Crete, Corfu, Venice, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and London. I wanted to maximise my time so that I could see as many sights as I could. With only half a year to see all of Europe, I could only do my best.
Solo travelling was a blast and it was lovely to experience some of the year in summer, after the poor excuse of a summer we had in Auckland. I met tons of amazing people and took in the beautiful sights offered to me. It was only a little bit of a challenge not to melt in the 38 degree heat.
The temperature drop when I arrived in Edinburgh was palpable, and in the first two days it had already rained. That didn’t stop me from having fun and exploring the city though! Freshers Week at the University of Edinburgh was full of activities that helped me set up in my accommodation, make tons of friends and orient myself in a foreign city. I was introduced to the hundreds of sports clubs and societies Edinburgh offered, totally overwhelmed by choice. I ended up going to a hillwalking taster and took a beautiful sunset walk up the Salisbury Crags and took a chilly swim at Portobello Beach as part of the Blue Tits society Sunday morning. Other than that, I spent a lot of the time getting to know my housemates. We hosted a lot of movie nights, cooked dinner together and went to a couple of the late night Freshers activities, including an incredible performance from a Taylor Swift impersonator. I got lost in IKEA looking for kitchen appliances, went op-shopping down Nicholson Street and attended welcome talks for uni. There was barely a moment to breathe.
After Freshers, we had to put a little bit of a hold on all that and get to studying. The campus is in the centre city and the majority of the lecture halls are in beautiful historical buildings, though they’re modernly fitted inside. George Square, aptly named, is the main part of campus and the buildings surround a gorgeous park that really livens up the campus. My classes have been great so far and I’m excited to learn more in lectures and tutorials. Stick around for my other blogs posts to see what else I get to over in Edinburgh, until then ka kite and thank you for reading!
